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JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Kono to visit China for talks

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono will hold talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and four other government and Chinese Communist Party leaders during his Aug. 28 to 31 visit to Beijing, according to a Japanese official.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2000

The sacrificed island's dream remains deferred

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- On Aug. 9, 1958, the entire nation was riveted to the first round of the National High School Baseball Tournament, which pitted Okinawa's Shuri High School against Fukui Prefecture's Tsuruga High School.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2000

Lower House dissolved for June 25 poll

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori dissolved the Lower House on Friday and called a general election for June 25, placing the fate of his leadership in the hands of voters.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2000

Embattled triumvirate seeks to rally the public before polls

Although Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi encountered little difficulty in securing Diet passage of the fiscal 2000 budget Friday, the likelihood of him dissolving the Lower House for general elections in the near future seems more distant than ever.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2000

If only Greenpeace told the truth about whaling

On Nov. 9, 1999, Japan's whale research fleet departed for the Antarctic to begin the 13th year of its research program. The research program involves both a sighting survey whose primary purpose is the estimation of trends in abundance, and a sampling component that involves the take of up to 440 minke...
EDITORIALS
Nov 1, 1999

Kid gloves and iron fists

October was a good month for Chinese President Jiang Zemin. First, he presided over the 50th-anniversary celebrations of the Chinese People's Republic. Those festivities helped him shore up his claim to stand alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping as the third great leader of the country. He was spared...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Chongqing leads the next China boom

Japan is poised to lead foreign investment in the next important phase of China's development, centered on Chongqing, an inland city whose name most outsiders have never heard.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 1999

Flag, anthem now official

The Diet enacted controversial legislation Monday that legally recognizes the Hinomaru as Japan's national flag and "Kimigayo" as its anthem.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1999

Teachers to oppose flag, song bill

The Japan Teachers' Union began a three-day regular meeting Thursday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward to discuss action plans with a special aim to oppose government moves to legally recognize the Hinomaru as the nation's flag and "Kimigayo" as the anthem.
EDITORIALS
May 15, 1999

More legal help for Japanese citizens

Critics have charged for years that government policies deliberately aimed at discouraging the public from resorting to the courts to resolve disputes have also worked to artificially limit the number of lawyers and judges in this country. Now, in a welcome if belated step aimed at increasing the number...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 1999

Nago to host G8; Fukuoka, Miyazaki get ministers

After weeks of heated debate and lobbying, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi decided Thursday that Japan will hold the 2000 summit of the Group of Eight major powers in the city of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Analysis: Defense changes dodged public debate

Staff writers
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 1999

Old men and bad dreams

Two unrelated news stories that have been gathering momentum in the United States in the past few weeks have focused attention all over again on the touchy issue of old crimes and delayed punishments. The conflicts involved are not novel -- they surfaced as recently as last year, when Spain attempted...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 1999

Coalition looks past budget, peers at defense

The LDP-Liberal Party coalition on Wednesday proposed a special Diet committee to discuss bills covering the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 1998

Hashimoto defends reform bill before Diet

A bill to reform the current bloated administrative system is indispensable to make government slimmer and more effective for the 21st century, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto told a Diet session April 20.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 1998

Tokyo-Naha relations dealt fatal blow by Ota's decision

BY KAORUKO AITA
JAPAN
Feb 6, 1998

Defense Agency lashes out at Okinawa governor

Defense Agency chief Fumio Kyuma, angered over Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota's rejection of a heliport plan, reiterated Friday that the Futenma Air Station cannot be relocated until the prefecture finds an alternative site. Kyuma, who heads the central government's special task force to relocate the U.S....
JAPAN
Nov 28, 1997

Hashimoto's fiscal reform legislation clears Diet

A government-proposed fiscal reform bill to designate specific reduction targets for key budget areas became law Friday when it was passed by the Upper House during a plenary session.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 1997

SDP wrapping up details of 2 trillion yen tax cut

The Social Democratic Party said Oct. 9 that it is finalizing details of its proposal for a one-time tax cut of about 2 trillion yen, SDP Secretary General Shigeru Ito said.The party, one of the two non-Cabinet allies of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will compile its proposal next week as a supplementary...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1997

New transport chief on course for clash over JR debt, taxes

When the new transport minister began talking about solutions to the long-running and lingering problem of debts left over by the former Japanese National Railways, one word kept coming up: "taxes."
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1997

Hashimoto throws U.N. his environment pitch...

NEW YORK -- Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on June 23 urged industrialized countries to take the initiative in combating climate change problems by creating green technologies and disseminating them to developing nations.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 1997

Opposition parties disagree over tax cuts

Three opposition parties on Feb. 21 effectively gave up their joint attempt to demand the continuation of special tax cuts this year, enabling the government to cement its plan to raise income taxes by 2 trillion yen a year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jun 12, 2023

Woman with severe disability offers tips to change outlook on living alone

Yui Yuda, 25, has spinal muscular atrophy, and lives a life in an environment where tiny freedoms are not taken for granted.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Jun 10, 2023

Trump faces strong case over illegal retention of classified papers, experts say

Legal experts say neither the law nor the facts appear to be on the side of the former U.S. president.
JAPAN
May 21, 2023

Japan aims to double child-related budgets by 2035

The government plans to create a new special account to unify the management of budgets related to children.
Japan Times
Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

Japan ready to expound on city’s anti-nuclear message

For Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, hosting the Group of Seven Leaders Summit in Hiroshima carries special meaning.
Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

Japan remains keen supporter of universal health care

When the Spanish flu flared up just over a century ago, it claimed at least 50 million lives worldwide at a time when influenza vaccines were undeveloped and other treatments were ineffective. Society fragmented as people lost trust in government institutions and national health care services, which...
Japan Times
Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

Diversification fueled through ‘education of conscience’

In 1864, when the isolationist foreign policy of the Tokugawa shogunate was still in effect, Jo Niijima, a 21-year-old son of a samurai, left Japan for the United States, risking capital punishment. For Niijima, it was an adventurous quest to seek a land where greater equality, freedom and human rights...
Japan Times
Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

Split education system needs a shake-up, president warns

Waseda University, one of Japan’s leading private universities, began its history as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, which was established in 1882. The founder, Shigenobu Okuma, served as Japan’s prime minister twice, in 1898 and 1914. Waseda has produced eight of the country’s prime ministers, including Fumio...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 23, 2023

Japan tastes success at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony

The evening in Singapore marked the first full, in-person night of awards since the pandemic began.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell